Here’s One Major Twist Actor Andrew Lincoln Never Saw Coming

Portraying Believable Characters

The end of Season 7 was truly explosive on The Walking Dead. There were twists and turns, deaths, and betrayals throughout the entire episode, which will all lead to Rick’s War with the Saviors.

During an interview with Entertainment Weekly, actor Andrew Lincoln revealed that he likes to be kept in the dark for most of the show’s major twists. He believes his portrayal will be more believable if he doesn’t know what’s going on.

One example might be walking into a jail cell to see Dwight waiting for him.

Lincoln Never Knew Of Jadis’ Betrayal

The Walking Dead | Photo Credit AMC

Another major point would be when Jadis and the Heapsters (some call this group the Scavengers) betray Rick and Alexandria. Lincoln said he didn’t know this was about to happen until they started filming the scenes that led to the betrayal.

Lincoln revealed, “I’m serious when I say that I don’t ask for any information. I don’t want to know. Obviously, if there are things like his relationship with Michonne, I would prefer to know that there are seeds being sown, but with big reveals like this, I love learning on the day. I think it’s much, much stronger.”

Lincoln’s main point here is authenticity.

Creating Authenticity On Set

The Walking Dead | Photo Credit AMC

The actor believes this “deflects and then it reveals” what will happen in the scene. The British actor isn’t the only person to work this way. In Michael Caine’s book on acting, for example, he believes in a similar methodology.

Michael Caine reads a script about 1,000 times, but he doesn’t worry about the responses from the other actors. “When the other actor says the line, I’ve never heard it. You don’t know what someone’s going to say. That’s the trick. I don’t want to be in the situation where I know what he’s going to say, [but] I know what my bloody answer is, [because] I’ve said it 1,000 times!”